Chapter Events

Experience an up-close learning opportunity with live birds of prey.?Lake County Forest Preserves Environmental Educator, Melissa Alderson?will share some great information about these awesome birds including adaptations?of diurnal and nocturnal raptors, local birds of prey and their role in the ecosystem, plus conservation efforts.?

Melissa Alderson has been an environmental educator and volunteer habitat steward for over thirteen years.? She has a degree in Biology, emphasizing in animal behavior and ecology from Northern Illinois University, plus her Master?s in Teaching Biological Science from Miami University.? Melissa offers programs for preschoolers through adults, and ?enjoys teaching about wildlife and native landscaping topics.? She also enjoys walking her dogs, sports and photography.

 
Families welcome. No fee or registration required.
 

Jack in the Pulpit

Join us for a virtual prairie land hike with?photos and stories of native prairie plants with Lake County Forest Preserve natural history interpreter and writer, Dr. Randy McCool.

Randy's natural history blog may be seen at: Suburban Wildlife Magazine http://suburbanwildlifemagazine.com/

Families welcome. No fee or registration required.

Dragonfly Eyes
??They?re not dragons and they?re not flies but however inaptly they?re named, the stunt pilots of the insect world are attention getters. The order?Odonata?dates back over 300 million years to a time when with a two and a half foot wingspan, dragonflies ruled the air.
 

 
Speaker: ? Marla Garrison is a physiology and microbiology educator with McHenry County College and?author of ?Damselflies of Chicagoland?a field guide published online by the Chicago Field Museum of Natural History.
 

Families welcome. No fee or registration required
 

 
Tori Trauscht, will introduce you to 25 native plants, including some shrubs and trees that will work well for general planting in our area. An active supporter of Conserve Lake County, Tori is a strong advocate for protecting and expanding our cultural, botanical and native diversity of plants, to encourage all their specialized bird and insect associates. Lists will be provided and a bit of ethnobotany will also be reviewed regarding the cultural use or historical significance of some of the 25 native plants.
 

Families Welcome. No fee or registration required.

Gardeners have long known that soil is not simply the stuff that props up plants, but not everyone knows that regenerative organic and native plant gardening practices can help mitigate climate change. This presentation will review the characteristics of healthy soil, how plants and soil life work together to store carbon below ground and how gardeners can make a difference in the fight against climate change.

Our speaker?Adrian Fisher is the Sustainability Coordinator for Triton College?and was a co-founder of the Triton College Greening the Campus Committee. She has volunteered with Cook County Forest Preserves for fifteen years. In the past Adrian has served as a University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener and was the native plant buyer for an independent nursery center. Active with West Cook Wild Ones, she maintains a prairie garden at Triton and a pollinator reserve in her backyard. She contributes to?City Creatures,?the blog of the Center for Humans and Nature, and to ? ? ? ?? ?Resilience.org. Her articles and essays can be read at?www.EcologicalGardening.net.

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Families Welcome. No fee or registration required

Radical Root Farm's Alison Parker will discuss aspects of organic agriculture and organic growing, from both an environmental standpoint and a health standpoint.? Ecological issues related to farming and gardening will be discussed, including growing organically as opposed to conventionally, permaculture, the holistic care of bees, the pasturing of animals in an animal rotation system for optimal soil, plant and farm health, and growing in a way that benefits and protects local wildlife. ?

Alison Parker is co-owner and farmer at Radical Root Farm, a small certified organic farm in Libertyville, IL.??The farm raises nutrient-dense vegetables and pasture-raised eggs to sell at their farm stand, a farmer's market, and through their CSA.? See?www.radicalrootfarm.com?for more information.

Families Welcome. No fee or registration required

This multimedia presentation will begin with the basic information about the earth's energy balance, the role of greenhouse gases and how human activities are altering them.?
Rick?Knight, energy research chemist and volunteer with Citizens' Climate Lobby, will then take us further, explaining why it matters and the impact of climate change on weather, the planet's ice caps and on our ecosystem.?He will then discuss the obstacles that we need to overcome?and how we can contribute in the fight?against climate change.??Don't miss this down to earth presentation. We will all learn something about this magnificent planet we call Earth.

Families Welcome. No fee or registration required.?

 
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Aldo Leopold was one of the greatest environmental minds of the 20th?century.? Through his writings Aldo taught us that land can be thought of as a living thing that grows, changes, and responds to human influences.?In his landmark book,?A Sand County Almanac, Leopold penned a new type of ethics which includes not just respect for humans, but also respect for the land that sustains them. ?Leopold was smart enough to recognize the problems modern society was creating but also wise enough to know that nothing will change without a change in how humans view their role on the planet.?

We already have many templates for how to build a more sustainable lifestyle.? Many different environmental groups are actively promoting ways to improve the health of our soil and water that are necessary to supply the food all species need to survive.

Please join the Lake-to-Prairie Chapter of Wild Ones in a lively group discussion with Dr Jeff Hoyer, where each of you can participate in the type of thinking that will help us be more effective in our own lives at?propagating a land ethic. We will start with a quick review of Aldo Leopold?s main principles, ?followed by small group work to tease out your own version of a land ethic, and finishing with ideas about how we can all help build a more sustainable life for us and our descendants.?

Families welcome. No fee or registration required.

The acres that make up Half Day Forest Preserve were some of the first acquired by the Lake County Forest Preserve District. Half Day provides the opportunity to see the powerful effects of water and fire. Prior to settlement by Europeans, human and natural caused fires were an important disturbance that helped shape the natural communities we find along the Des Plaines River.??As a result, Half Day, which is situated west of the river, supports the oaks and prairie plants that thrived under fire?s influence. Though many natural areas at Half Day were degraded by farming, some survived and others are being restored.?This preserve was named after the Potawatomi chief?Aptakisic, whose name means "sun at its meridian" or "half day."
Some of the preserves wildlife include nesting field birds like the?Eastern bluebirds, tree swallows, and red-tailed hawks that are commonly seen in the more open area while wood ducks, scarlet tanagers, and ovenbirds use woodlands for nesting.?A footbridge spanning the Des Plaines River links Half Day to Wright Woods Forest Preserve. Together they offer some of southern Lake County's most scenic outdoor sites.?
Please join us for a beautiful morning walk with our Lake County Forest Preserve guide Dr. Randy McCool.
The entrance and parking area are located on Route 21 (Milwaukee Avenue) at the light for Woodlands Parkway, south of Route 60 (Townline Road) and just north of Route 22 (Half Day Road).
Outing is free and families are welcome but registration is required.
Please RSVP by July 27, 2016

Permaculture is a design process that uses nature?s patterns.? Using a permaculture approach, you can get multiple benefits from native plants in your yard:? beauty,?a healthy ecosystem, food for you and your family, resource and energy efficiency, and a deeper relationship with nature.? Judy will share some useful permaculture design principles and give examples of how they can be applied in any yard.

Speaker: Judy Speer

Judy Speer practices permaculture design, ecological restoration, and deep ecology with Small Waters Education, a nonprofit organization she founded along with her husband Jack.??They live in an oak savanna near the headwaters of the Nippersink Creek in northern McHenry County, IL. ?

Families Welcome. No fee or registration required.

Native prairie, woodland and wetland landscapes benefit from periodic prescribed burning. But all sites, whether large or small, have specific situations that complicate the ability to conduct prescribed burns. This presentation will describe some of the benefits and challenges of prescribed burning as well as other management practices that are commonly used in the restoration and stewardship of our native habitats.


Speaker: ?Doug Dewitt -?Tallgrass Restorations project ecologist

?Doug?is in this line of work because he's truly passionate about it. Growing up in Ohio he spent?many childhood days playing?in the woodlands of his?grandparent's farm. He went on to?be educated in art and design taking his connection with nature with him. Nature illustrations during his Master's coursework ignited his desire to get more hands on.?Later he participated on his first prescribed burn and so began a future in ecological restoration.

 

?Families Welcome. No fee or registration required